Northeast Cobb citizens speak out on the future of Shaw Park

A packed community center at Piedmont Church Thursday included legions of girls softball teams and a bevy of feisty pickleball enthusiasts.

Including one dressed in a pickle costume.

For nearly two hours, they and other citizens of Northeast Cobb told Cobb PARKS officials what they wanted to see in the proposed redevelopment of Shaw Park.

At a community input meeting organized by Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, quite a few people got emotional in response to concerns about what might come next.

Initially described by county officials as a “repurposing” of the park, the project was earmarked $4 million in SPLOST (Special Local-Option Sales Tax) revenues.

That figure is likely to be closer to $2 million, after Cobb commissioners last week voted to redirect $1.2 million to relocate the Northeast Cobb Community Center in Shaw Park and have it become part of new Gritters Library branch.

More than 50 years after its opening, the multi-purpose park located next to the Gritters Library is wearing down. The second park to be built in the Cobb park system in the late 1960s, Shaw Park is heavily utilized, but needs an overhaul, county officials said emphatically to the citizens in attendance.

There are five softball fields, nine pickleball courts, two tennis courts, playgrounds, picnic pavilions and the community center.

Underground infrastructure that hasn’t been replaced in all those years is decaying, according to Cobb PARKS director Michael Brantley, and ball fields, courts and bathroom facilities need to be replaced.

“We’ve had a lot of suggestions for what people want from the community,” Brantley said.

“We don’t have a lot of money left but we want to year your ideas.”

What he, Birrell and other county parks officials heard were pleas to provide new facilities for existing activities, and a few more.

Softball parents have been fearful that removal of the softball fields at Shaw Park were a possibility.

The Sandy Plains Softball organization uses fields at Shaw Park, and they turned out in droves to plead that they not be reduced or taken away.

“Our constituents cannot speak for themselves,” said softball parent Darren Ross, referring to the 450 girls who signed up for Sandy Plains Softball this spring.

“We are here to protect those girls who cannot speak for themselves. Words like ‘repurpose’ scare us.”

Brantley and Birrell said several times at the meeting that removing softball fields at Shaw Park “was never on the table.”

A number of softball players did speak, echoing Woods’ comments.

They cited aging restrooms that smell bad and that “don’t work.

“It’s just horrible,” said a Sandy Plains softball player. “It’s really bad when you’re ready to play a game and you have to go to QT to go to the bathroom.”

Safety concerns also came up extensively. In January, Cobb Police arrested a man they said sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at Shaw Park.

Bret Benson, a pickleball player who grew up playing baseball at Shaw Park and later at Sprayberry High School, said he was at the park when that happened.

He said female players in his league are discouraged from walking by themselves in the evenings.

“The lighting is bad at night,” he said. “We don’t let our ladies walk to that [northern] parking lot. No one wants to show up if they don’t feel safe.”

Benson suggested that new restrooms at Shaw Park be built with safety in mind, and closer to the playing venues. Shaw Park has become one of the more popular venues in metro Atlanta for pickleball, which combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong and is a fast-growing adult recreational sport.

Among his ideas for pickleball courts is to have some of them covered in the event of inclement weather.

“We’re not looking for anybody else’s space,” Benson said, in reference to the concerns of softball parents.

Longtime community leader Frank Wigington was a softball umpire when Shaw Park opened. The park initially had baseball fields, later converted for softball, and said repurposing is a part of the history of the park,

He’s advocating now for a special needs playground at Shaw Park.

“I hope you still have a love for this park when you reach my age,” Wigington said.

Birrell said the county will “go back to the drawing board” with the suggestions made Thursday, and future public meetings are likely when a proposal is developed.

Commissioners would have to approve a master plan before construction would begin.

“It’s just a matter of where everything is going to go and the funding we’re going to have,” she said.

Brantley said discussions have begun to explore having an all-volunteer group to work with Cobb PARKS–similar to groups at Mabry Park and East Cobb Park—and help run events.

“This is not going to be a quick process,” Brantley said of the redevelopment project, regardless of what the future plans will come to.

Related:

• Gritters Library project to proceed with $1M in ARPA funding
• Wheeler, Kell basketball teams celebrate state championships
• East Cobb Park volunteer group seeks new members

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